‘Aquaman’ Director James Wan Has Revealed His Simple Plan For Handling Underwater Dialogue

In Justice League, we got an early look at Aquaman’s home of Atlantis and, for some reason, Aquaman and Mera, two Atlanteans who can breathe and communicate underwater with no trouble whatsoever, had a chat in an air bubble. James Wan confirmed that he was not going to do that. So how was he going to do it? Voiceover dialogue? Hand signals? A folksy narrator that the cast can somehow hear?

“People are overthinking it,” Wan says. “They’re just gonna talk!” Characters underwater speak normally in the film despite being underwater. Wan then adds a tad bit of a visual effect as Atlanteans speak, suggesting sound waves, but that’s all.

Of course, there will be somebody who complains that sound does not work like that underwater and in fact you would need far more powerful vocal chords to get past the density of water and sound like a normal human. This person goes to the movies alone when all his friends are busy on a Monday night. Don’t be that person. That said, we hope they’ll at least consider the fourth-wall breaking narrator, something in a Big Lebowski style. Can’t you just imagine Sam Elliott taking a long refreshing pull on his beer, and then saying “Well, folks, Arthur Curry found himself in a bit of a pickle…”